LONGINES IJC allocation has Moreira wanting a fast start

Joao Moreira believes a fast start in leg one of the LONGINES International Jockeys’ Ch

Moreira will ride the Tony Millard-trained Strathallan in the opening race of four, which will determine the fate of the LONGINES IJC, following the draw for rides at Sha Tin on Monday (2 December) morning.

“It is such a big event and, while unfortunately I wasn’t in it last year, in the years before you have to go back some way to when I won it,” said Moreira. “It’s a pleasure to be back in it against all these top jockeys and my rides don’t seem too bad. Some of them may have a bit of a chance and hopefully we’ll get some good gates and take it from there.”

“Strathallan seems a very nice horse. Two starts ago he ran very well and I’m convinced that if he brings his best, he has a winning chance.”

Should a clear leader among the 12-strong all-star lineup fail to emerge over the three legs, Moreira believes there will be all to play for in the deciding Class 2 over 1800 metres, in which he will partner Turin Redstar. 

Moreira said: “This is the most open race and there are a number of horses with winning chances. I don’t think my horse is too bad.”

Among those returning to Happy Valley in search of further LONGINES IJC success will be the 2018 and 2017 winners, Silvestre de Sousa and Zac Purton, as well as three-time hero Frankie Dettori and dual champion Ryan Moore. imself become licensed and he was named shortly before his first race, following a holiday visit of his owner-breeder Saeed Bel Obaida to the beautiful Scottish island of Arran.

The horse didn't show anything special early but has developed into the type of racehorse that according to Fellowes you might have to wait 20 years to find, with his money-spinning quality being revealed abroad rather than at home.

“He is a highly intelligent horse and seems to find travelling very stimulating so it keeps him fresh. Also I think that intelligence means that he only does as much as he has to - all his wins have been by narrow margins - so you never really get to the bottom of him and that also implies that he can last longer as a racehorse,” the handler said.

The six-year-old bay gelding's only three wins in Britain have been in relatively insignificant events on Kempton's all-weather track. Compare that with his adventures abroad when besides his two cracking Melbourne Cup performances he has been placed in a G2 at Belmont on his only US start, won and been placed in valuable events at Meydan, and has twice won G3's in Australia.

The latest of those came en route to this year’s Melbourne Cup in October’s Geelong Cup over the same 2400m distance of the Hong Kong Vase. The racecourse presenter got pretty excited afterwards, announcing: “Prince Of Arran loves it here in Australia. We've adopted him as one of our own!” Not as excited perhaps as Fellowes’ travelling head groom Natasha Eaton who has accompanied the horse around the world and said: “I would die for this horse! He is so spoilt but he deserves it!”

Jockey Michael Walker who will resume his partnership with Prince Of Arran at Sha Tin on Sunday emphasised another crucial quality of the horse after he had fended off the late surge of re-opposing Irish mare True Self at Geelong.

“He's got a heart bigger than anyone here today,” he said.

Fellowes, who watched that win on TV from the other side of the world, grew up near Newmarket but comes from a farming rather than a racing background. Initially he had to be “dragged” along to the races but once the bug hit, it hit hard and by the time he left university, every career other than racehorse trainer had been ruled out.

The five years as assistant trainer to Newmarket-based James Fanshawe is where his learning curve matured but becoming the boss brings its own challenges and, although his very first runner was a winner, Fellowes admits that he does “cringe” when recalling some of the things he did in his first year as a trainer.

Cringe or not, things have been going in the right direction ever since including a first Royal Ascot victory with Thanks Be in the Sandringham Stakes in June. That win came soon after a geographical shift which Fellowes hopes will take him to the top table, if not this year then soon.

That was the purchase of Bedford House Stables, a near 200-year-old yard updated with 21st century facilities by former trainer Luca Cumani, who sent out endless top class winners from there. That list included two winners of the Derby at Epsom as well as Falbrav who concluded his career in scintillating winning style under Frankie Dettori in the 2003 Hong Kong Cup at Sha Tin.

Fellowes admits that despite record money earnings for the stable this year expenses linked to the purchase have meant that “my bank balance isn't too good at the moment!” However, he recognises how lucky he is: “I have one of the best positions in the best racing town in the world and hopefully this signals to the big owners in this country and abroad that we really mean business.”

Meanwhile, the trainer reckons that he will go into battle in the next British racing season with around 75 horses.

“I want quality over quantity and Bedford House lends itself perfectly to that ambition,” Fellowes said.

Keen to pay huge tribute to his staff and recognise that the stable is a team, he also says that because this sport is an all-encompassing lifestyle it is important to have other interests especially as many of his friends come from outside of racing. Playing golf, supporting Nottingham Forest FC and cooking are all high on that list.

But on Sunday it will be all about racing and the hope in the Fellowes camp will be that this year will replicate 2011 when Europeans Dunaden and Red Cadeaux - first and second in the Melbourne Cup - repeated those fabulous performances 7,500 km away in Hong Kong the following month when first and third in the Vase.quo;s name will always pop up. So far, he has been happy to make do with short stints during European down-time.

That is unlikely to change anytime soon, not since he sealed a retainer last spring as first jockey to the burgeoning King Power Racing operation, started by the late Thai businessman Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha and continued under his family’s direction.

“It went brilliant,” De Sousa says. “We’ve got a lovely number of horses, some very well-bred horses, and Alastair Donald is the King Power racing manager and he’s doing a fantastic job for them. We are keen to win races - big races are our target and I’m very focused on big races.”

De Sousa’s career has taken shape in such a way that although he has three British champion jockey titles on his resumé, his Group 1 haul stands currently at 10, a total many lesser riders would be happy with but which is surely a bare reward for his talents.

After making his name in Britain initially on the northern circuit in the late-2000’s, De Sousa has never been en vogue with the big southern-based stables, despite living for some time now just a short hop outside Newmarket, the ‘home’ of British racing. He did enjoy a successful time as retained rider to Godolphin, for whom he won such majors as the G1 Dubai World Cup (2014 African Story) and G1 Champion Stakes (2013 Farhh), but that was all too short-lived.

Being a part of the King Power Racing team, he hopes, will enable him to mesh volume with more quality. The signs so far are good.

“I hadn’t been back in England more than a week or two when I won a Group 3, the Ormonde Stakes, with a lovely horse we have called Morando,” he says.

“We’ve got a lot of three-year-olds coming to four-year-olds and they’re very lightly-raced. We’ve got a big number of horses to go to war with. From being a small team, we’ve now got about 100 horses in training, so we’re just hoping for those horses to come out and deliver on the big days.”

King Power Racing has had 58 wins in 2019, and De Sousa rode 32 of those. His haul for his new retainer included a Royal Ascot win on Cleonte and the G1 British Champions Sprint on Donjuan Triumphant.

“It was a great season,” he says. “We had a great start and had a lot of Group winners. The proper one, the Group 1, only came on the last day of the season for me, on Champions Day. It’s good, you know, that gave me an extra buzz, and it makes everyone excited for next season.”

Big-race focus

It was not all plain-sailing though. De Sousa’s momentum stalled when a race fall ended any hope of a fourth champion jockey title.

“I had a bit of a hiccup with injury and was off for a while, which didn't help, but when I got back I was back in great form,” he says.

De Sousa, like every jockey that ever sat on a thoroughbred, plays down the severity of his spill from Alnadir at Chelmsford on that Friday night in August.

“It was a five horse race,” he recalls when pressed. “The lead horse moved off the fence as the one on the outside moved towards the fence, so they got me in a sandwich. I had no time to take him back because I was pushing to go forward, so everything happened so quickly and I didn't have time to react.

“It was a pretty nasty fall but I was very lucky to walk out with just very minor injuries,” he adds.

To hear him talk, one might be forgiven for thinking he left the course with a few bruises and a sprain. In fact, with a no-big-deal shrug, the man who first sat on a horse at age six on the family farm in São Francisco do Maranhão says, “I fractured my lower back; I did the ligament in my knee a little bit, and tore my shoulder ligament as well, so it was multiple injuries. I had a collar bone fracture as well.”

At the time, he was chasing eventual champion Oisin Murphy in the title race but he is unwilling to countenance any notion that his six weeks on the sidelines cost him the championship.

“I set up the year with a great start,” he says. “I went back and I was riding winners almost every day for King Power and other trainers around, but I was never ahead because Oisin rode the whole year round, he never took the time off. I was always running behind him even though I’d got a bit close when the injury came.

“I don't think I would have won though, I wasn’t going for the title, I just wanted to ride as many winners as I could and tried to keep my connections very happy. I just set out to have a good season.”

There’s a hint of ‘been there, done that’ about the jockeys’ championship. At age 38, rising 39, the desire to pull in the major wins is now stronger than ever.

“The title is something that if I’m lined up there with a chance, I might have a go, but I don’t have in the back of my mind to win another title. I want to ride plenty of winners but I want those big winners. When you go out to win the title you have to give up some big races,” he says.

His prospects on that front look bright given King Power’s emergence as a genuine G1 player, and his connection to Hong Kong will always offer the promise of a quality horse in a big race. After all, in this town, De Sousa has only ever really been all the rage.

“It’s great here,” he says. “Hong Kong has been fantastic to me.”